Paint Log - 3/19/2012

More in-progress shots of the Celestial Fulcrum. These are from the last two nights.

Two nights ago. Got two of the "moons" detailed enough that I could attach them to the fulcrum. I stopped working on the "gems" at this point, only blocking them in so I could work on them the next night.

I also redid the runes on the right side of the fulcrum, to better match the left.

Previous night's work. Gems done, also added the third and last "moon." Did some highlighting of the moons.

Finally glued the stone spar that supports the Fulcrum into the base. Started painting it - needs a few more glazes to have it match the rest of the base.

Backside of the Fulcrum. Did some highlighting of the back areas to make them blend better with the front view of the Fulcrum. Still need to add a "green glow" on the backside of the support spar.

Paint Log - 3/14/2012

It's been a while, but I'm still at it. Unfortunately, wedding preparations and the like have kept me from the painting table for a while (although lately I've been spending a fair amount of time playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, as well...).  I haven't been able to make it over to the game store for almost 2 months now, just because everything is rather hectic, but lately I found some time to get back to painting.

Previously I mentioned the possibility of stripping Mohsar and Nuala. I went ahead and did that - since then I've repainted Nuala, and she looks much, much better. She's about 80% finished. Mohsar has been primed and his cloak base-coated, but that's about it for the moment.

The Tharn Bloodtrackers are finally all finished, over a year past their purchase. I'm quite happy with how they turned out. After I get a few better photos of them, I'll place them up here.

I also picked up the new Circle models - The Gallows Grove. I did a small bit of basecoating on one model last night - looking forward to painting them.  Also assembled, based and primed the Sentinel Stone and Mannikins. Need to paint those. Assembled Baldur the Stonesoul, built his base out of thick cork and painted it, as well.

As for the rest...
I haven't said much about it now except for a few previous references, mostly because I was hoping to surprise folks with it once I had finally finished it... but seeing as many know I have it, I figured I might as well show off what I've got so far.

The model that's been keeping me busy for the last few months is the one I've been salivating over ever since PP first teased it. I received it just after it released in December as a late birthday gift from my fiancée ... The Celestial Fulcrum battle engine!

These pictures have been taken over a 2-3 month span, since I started painting the Fulcrum sometime in late December and have been working at it off-and-on again since then. I started repainting the model midway through, which is why it's been taking me as long as it has. But I'm a lot happier with the newer, more polished, results.

With regards to the color scheme, this is straight out of the painting guide in Hordes: Domination. I'm following their guide very closely, in part because I love the studio scheme, and in part to better learn how they went about painting it.

Backside of the Celestial Fulcrum. Just finished painting every single rune with the first step of color.

Next step: adding Menoth White Highlight to each rune to create 'hot spots' in the glow effect.

Each rune has now been glazed with mix of green, yellow and blue ink. All finished!

Phase two: At this point, I started repainting portions of the fulcrum because I wasn't pleased with the result. You can see the difference if you look closely - the right side of the stone ring has the new paint job, compared to the left, which is the original. The stone looks better on the right, in my opinion, and more akin to the studio paint job.

Last night's work. At this point, the entire front side of the fulcrum has been redone - stone, wood, and runes. I still plan to do a minor touch-up on the green gem. The three guys in the foreground are the druids who control the Fulcrum. They'll be attached last.

Better view, showing off the new paint job. I tried a different method of doing the runes on the left that captures the look of the glow better, I think. I'm debating about going back over the right for a third time and redoing the runes on that side so that they all match.

View of all the Fulcrum's pieces: On the left are the "moons," which will be the next pieces attached, something I'm really looking forward to. Each one still needs its own gem painted, along with the wood and steel bands on their armatures to be finished. The druids are currently semi-painted - just their skin and glowing stone breastplates for the moment.

I still need to do shading and highlighting of the various gold bands and plates on the fulcrum.

Backside of the fulcrum. Here you'll see that I haven't really gone back and further painted the stone yet. Part of me really likes how the darker tones really makes the runes 'pop,' but I still plan on highlighting the stone at least a little more to bring it more in-line with the front.

Used the camera's flash here, just to make some of the other details stand out.

Paint Log - 1/5/2012

So... after getting 3/4 of the ways through the model I've been working on this past week, I took a good long look at it... and have started over. I've decided that I want to try and have a more detailed, better-painted model, so I'm effectively going back over all the work I've done so far using that more as a "guide" to follow.

The stupid need to try and get this thing looking perfect. Agh.

I swear, I never do things the easy way... At least I didn't decide to dump the whole thing in Simple Green, strip it, and start all over from scratch. Progress, I guess.

Long Time No Post

Ouch....  My hand is cramping from having to paint all the tiny details on the newest model, despite frequent enough breaks.  I keep telling myself it's a labor of love and it'll all be worth it once it's finished...

However, the thought of ever painting another one of these models is out of the question. I can barely fathom the thought of someone being crazy enough to buy another one, let alone going through the effort of then painting it up as well.

Yes, cryptic, I know. Pics will be eventually forthcoming, I promise.

In the meantime, it's a tad frustrating to be following the painting guide to the letter, with the exact same paints, and having the base colors be nowhere near the pictures. Which can only lead me to believe that either the photos were doctored, or the painting instructions given were not the correct ones.

Paint Log - 9/22/11

So, again, it's been some time since the last post. I'm happy to say that while I haven't painted as much in the meantime, I've not been completely idle - I've done some substantial work on some figures.

The first one of note is Krueger, the Stormlord. It's take some time, but he's about 70% finished. The item of note with Krueger is the stylized lightning bolt I've made for him out of brass wire, arcing from his outstretched hand, around his spear, and into his base.  So far it looks pretty neat, even unpainted. I'm hoping it'll look even better once it's done.  I'm still debating whether or not to incorporate any OSL to a large degree... the tabletop part of me just wants to get it done well enough to get him on the table, while the display painter part wants to actually try and get the OSL done (and done right, at that). Tough call. For now, I'm thinking of sticking more with the tabletop part of me.  (I'm also very pleased to note that I managed to avoid giving Krueger the "Eek! A Mouse!" expression the studio model is well-known for. Mine actually looks kinda pissed off and ready to fry something... preferably, Menites).

Also finally finished working on the very first of the Warpborn Skinwalkers - the Unit Leader is now completely painted and ready to be used as a base template for the other two.

Paint Log - 7/17/2011

Long time, no post. Not because I haven't been painting (though that's been a large part of it, too...), but mostly because I've also been lazy. June was a pretty hectic month, and July has seen me plagued with recurring back problems from my old injury.  That said, painting and modelling has been getting done in the meantime!

As of today, I am the proud owner of a fully painted, based, and clear-coated unit of Reeves of Orboros! Not a big deal for some, but for me, this is the first, fully painted unit I've finished (I don't count the Shifting Stones, even though its construed as a 'unit.' They're too easy).  Since I started playing a about a year-and-a-half ago, I still didn't have any fully painted units, most just half-finished models. The Tharn Bloodtrackers I've owned for about a year now still aren't completely done, but as of this afternoon I can say that I've taken a huge step towards fixing that - as of now, I just have to finish the unit leader. She's finally fully assembled and halfway done. The rest of the unit is fully painted, based, and waiting now just for a matte coat and a few birch "leaves" on the bases. So, it'll be very, very soon before the Bloodtrackers are completely done.

I find it really amusing that the most recent models I've purchased are the ones I've finished compared to the first ones (hell, the Argii from the Battle Box still aren't finished...). But also I was starting to think I'd never be able to get a unit fully painted, and I never expected to get one done that quickly. Of the few tips I found, the one on the Privateer Press site by Matt Dipietro (their studio painter) was the most helpful - There's essentially two ways to paint: tabletop/gaming, and display. One will drive you insane, the other will not. Tabletop doesn't have to be display quality, it just has to look decent enough to be serviceable on the table top. For gaming, just do tabletop, otherwise you'll never be finished, which is exactly how he paints. Knowing that (from one of their best) seemed to somewhat free me up from my restrictive self-imposed standards, which meant I didn't bother (as much) with all the little details, and there's a slightly more sloppy quality (as opposed to trying to make the armor look perfect), but it works, and they still look great!

I also made sure to paint the figures in a more "assembly line" fashion, using the same color at a time on each figure. It seemed at first that it would still take forever, but I was honestly surprised at just how quickly the unit came together.

With that in mind, I'm looking forward to finishing up my Druids of Orboros unit soon, right after the Bloodtrackers are done. I'm still trying to think of a neat Sigil/Symbol to put on the druids' cloaks, but I'm not sure yet. The symbol of Orboros doesn't seem just right, and I don't want to use the same markings that my Reeves and Wolves of Orboros have on their cloaks. Some thought is still required. (Although, the thought of perhaps some small, glowing sigils on the hems of their cloaks seems like it might be a neat idea).

In other news, the Gnarlhorm Satyr has been finished for a little while now, and I'm quite proud at how he turned out.  The Megalith conversion I've been working on (he's about 75% done) looks phenomenal  - I love how his repose came out so much more than his stock pose. I had planned on doing a step-by-step picture guide, but I forgot about that halfway through... d'oh. Still, I'll try to get some pictures up of everything soon.

Finally... I also did work on Mohsar the Desertwalker, and so far, I'm not at all happy with how he looks. I'm seriously considering taking him and Nuala the Huntress, stripping both figures, and starting again with both of them from scratch.

Battle Report: Morvahna v. Kaelyssa

Kaelyssa lowered her runespear cannon and stood in disbelief, ignoring the clamor of the battle around her as the Tharn battle-shrieks and skinwalker howls mingled with the terse shouts of her Mage Hunter officers while they tried to restore order to their ranks.  Her target, the coppery-haired woman with the beautiful, twisted smile gave her a mocking quirk of her lips, unfazed from her attack, having transferred the injury to one of her warbeasts. Just in front of her, her Griffon strove to keep the frenzied white Warpwolf from tearing it to pieces, and the heavy thump of the Phoenix's tread behind her mixed with the whirr of its halo cannon recycling. 
   The druid woman chanted and green, circular, jagged runes revolved around her outstretched hand before the ground under Kaelyssa split open and erupted in a thick, wild tangle of vines and plant growth tipped with long, razor-sharp thorns. Without her power field to protect her, Kaelyssa leapt out of the way, but not before she found herself bleeding from over a dozen wounds. As her feet hit the ground and she staggered, the wood-and-stone form of the druid construct, ablaze from the flame of the Phoenix's cannon, rushed forward. The inscribed runes on its stone surfaces glowed with an arcane wash of green energy that it drew directly from a ley-line of Orboros before unleashing it in a blast of primal power. In its wake, plant life exploded in a rush of verdant growth. The elemental energy caught Kaelyssa with all the force of a giant's fist, and as she fell, the last thing she remembered was the sensation of being ensnared within a wild tangle of grasses and sharp-thorned vines...

The Lists (35 points):

Morvahna the Autumnblade Pureblood Warpwolf Gorax Woldwatcher Tharn Bloodtrackers Wolves of Orboros Wolf Pack Leader + Standard Bearer Wolf Lord Morraig Warpborn Skinwalkers Swamp Gobbers	Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper Phoenix Griffon Stormfall Archers Mage Hunter Strike Force Mage Hunter Commander Mage Hunter Assassin Ghost Sniper x2 Nayl Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Initial Thoughts:
Initially this was supposed to be a 50 pt. game against Tim, so I had made my list earlier in the day - a Baldur list I was looking forward to trying out.  Unfortunately, Tim was already engaged in what was meant to be a short 15-pt. game that ran much longer than anticipated by the time I arrived at the store. Since I still wanted to get a game in, we settled for a 35-pt game to see if we could get that done. This meant having to come up with a new list on the spot. Deciding that I wanted to run something different, and because I've only tried Morvahna a handful of times, I pulled her out as my caster of choice and opted to run a mostly infantry-heavy list with only a few warbeasts (1 heavy and 2 light... a definite change from my usual choices) to go for less fury management.

((Apologies - Sorry, again, had no camera with me to take pics))

Deployment:
Tim won the roll, then opted to give me the first setup. Terrain was sparse. A hill on the left of my deployment zone, some ruins between the hill and Tim's deployment zone, and a forest on the right side between the two deployment areas.
Morvahna went in the center, with the Pureblood on her left, the Gorax on the right. To the far right, I set up my Wolves in a tight "brick" formation, just behind the Swamp Gobbers who would cover them. Morraig set up on their right-hand flank. On my left, I set up my Skinwalkers in a line formation.
For my AD, the Bloodtrackers set up on my left, just next to the hill and within 6 inches of Morvahna and far enough away from the Skinwalkers. The Woldwatcher deployed to the center and a tad to my right, to provide some cover.

For Tim's set-up, he placed Kaelyssa slightly off-center to my left, between his Phoenix and Griffon. Nayl and Eiryss went just ahead of her. The Stormfall archers set up to the rear on my left, with the Mage Hunter Strike Force and Assassin in front of them, just within a couple inches of the ruins.  On my right, Narn and both Ghost Hunter Snipers set up just behind the woods.
-  I declared the Mage Hunter Strike Force as the Bloodtrackers' prey.

Round 1:
I started by activating Morvahna. She cast Restoration on the Skinwalkers to give them the armor buff, cast Regrowth on the Bloodtrackers, held onto her last fury and advanced. The Pureblood and Gorax each ran slightly forward ahead of her on either side and each riled for an additional fury point. The Woldwatcher advanced more towards Morvahna and slightly ahead, but staying within 2" of her, then activated its Earth Blessing animus on itself to stay rooted in place and taking on its Stone Form for 21 armor.
   The Swamp gobbers advanced on a diagonal towards the center of the board and laid down a 5" AOE cloud of swamp gas. The Wolves of Orboros ran up behind the cloud to use it for cover, while Morraig rushed up past them and into the forward edge of the cloud to gain Stealth, thanks to his and his wolf mount's Prowl ability.
   The Bloodtrackers ran forward to place the ruins as cover between themselves and the Mage Hunter Strike Force, while the Skinwalkers then rushed up alongside, but out of melee range (to avoid terrifying my own unit).

Tim went. The Mage Hunter Strike Force advanced, partially using the ruins to cover a third of his force. With the Mage Hunter Commander leading them, however, I'd forgotten the whole unit had Phantom Seeker, which meant the ruins covering my bloodtrackers effectively didn't exist as their crossbow bolts fired right through the walls. The majority targeted the bloodtrackers while three targeted the skinwalkers. Bolts flew... in the end, every shot missed my bloodtrackers except for one killing shot, while the three fired at the skinwalkers missed or couldn't penetrate their heavy armor. (Tim had some terrible rolls here).
   The Stormfall archers advanced, but kept back and didn't fire, likely because they either couldn't draw a bead on my forces or were out of range.  The Mage Hunter Assassin darted around the ruins to the far left, trying to come about in a flanking maneuver.
   Eiryss and Nayl advanced somewhat up the center of the board and towards my right in a cautious advance. Eiryss put a Phantom Bolt into the Pureblood Warpwolf for an automatic 3 pts. of damage, something which put him in a foul mood.
   Kaelyssa activated, casting Phantom Hunter on her Phoenix (to allow for more targeting without LOS shenanigans) and advancing slightly behind Nayl and Eiryss, holding onto her Focus to keep her Power Field running for the armor boost.  The Griffon and Phoenix advanced on a course towards my warbeasts, but couldn't get into range.
   On the far right, Narn and a Ghost Sniper took up positions in the forest, getting ready to target Morraig and the Wolves while the second Sniper managed a run and rushed Morraig to bog him down.

Round 2:
Morvahna leached fury, upkept her two spells and regrew the dead bloodtracker, bringing the unit back up to full strength.
    The Pureblood Warpwolf activated first. Realizing from our previous game that Tim was trying to get Nayl  into range of Morvahna, and that such a move would almost certainly kill me if she lost her fury, I was determined to stop that from happening. Nayl's stealth meant he was too far away to target with the Pureblood's death howl... but Eiryss wasn't, and Nayl was in a perfect diagonal line away from her. A quick check of Morvahna's control range indicated I could get within sight of Eiryss to target her... the Pureblood regenerated a point of damage and then loped forward before letting out a flesh rending howl. The spray caught both Eiryss and Nayl as intended, two boosts apiece meant both were hit, and the howl warped both to shreds. At that point, Tim realized my maneuver had crippled him far more than I'd initially intended... Kaelyssa was within 8" of Nayl, which meant that when the soulless elf died, he stripped her of all her focus, instead!
Now came the matter of how to free up Morraig. Thinking it over for a little bit, I charged the Gorax at the Sniper keeping Morraig tied up. The initial charge missed, but the follow up caught the elf and dashed him to pieces. With the enemy model no longer engaging the wolf lord, Morraig charged the Ghost Sniper and Narn. Morraig's blade killed the Sniper and then cleaved Narn in twain (whereupon I forgot that I could've moved Morraig another 5" afterwards thanks to his Light Calvary rules) leaving the Wolves free and clear to advance on that side of the table, which they promptly did, still under the cover of the swamp gobbers' gas bellows.
   Morvahna then activated and popped her feat, Seeds of Destruction, while moving up to place the bloodtrackers and several of the mage hunter strike force in range. She ditched two fury, leaving her at one, and stayed close to the woldwatcher. The watcher moved forward to close any charge lanes towards my caster, then used its animus and stone form yet again.
   Now the warpborn skinwalkers ran forward to put themselves into melee range of the Mage Hunter Strike Force (and to hopefully block the Griffon's advance by giving Tim a potential target) which had the advantage of striking terror into the unit as they failed their command check. With the Mage Hunter unit now fleeing in terror, the Bloodtrackers charged the targets they could see while one charged the Mage Hunter Assassin to stop (or at least bog down) her flank - she failed to connect. Two Mage Hunters died to the bloodtrackers, whereupon they each immediately exploded in a tangle of vicious vegetation that took out several more adjacent Mage Hunters, thanks to Morvahna's feat, and provided forests that now blocked a good number of my forces from the Stormfall Archers' LOS.

Tim then activated, still smarting from his loss of focus for the turn, which meant he had nothing to allocate to his warjacks and couldn't upkeep the phantom hunter spell. Deciding as he usually does in such situations to go for a make-it-or-break-it maneuver, he set to his activations. I had thankfully prepared myself for the possibility he would try something like that.
   His first action was to charge several of the Stormfall Archers at the Warpborn Skinwalkers. While they passed the command check to enter melee, they were unable to do any damage to the now Armor 20 heavy infantry. The rest moved up and positioned themselves to attack when they could once the forests disappeared next round. The Mage Hunters activated, but failed to rally.
   Tim advanced the Griffon up to engage the Pureblood Warpwolf and connected with its shield, doing minimal damage to the warbeast. The Phoenix then activated and advanced to the side to get LOS on Morvahna, then fired its Halo Cannon at her. The attack connected, whereupon the Woldwatcher used its Shield Guard ability to leap in front of her and take the shot, suffering only minimal damage but catching fire by the blast.  Not to be dissuaded Kaelyssa moved up slightly and fired her runespear cannon at Morvahna and connected, whereupon Morv transferred the damage to the Gorax in her stead and activating its Pain Response. With that, Tim's actions were over.

Round 3:
Morvahna again leached fury, but I had too much. Rather than leave one point on the woldwatcher, I left a point on the Pureblood, reasoning it was likely to pass the threshold check. That would go against me as the Pureblood frenzied, whereupon it launched itself against the Griffon and proceeded to batter against its shield for little effect. I upkept Morvahna's spells and considered what to do next.
With the Pureblood therefore "out of commission" this turn, I considered my options before activating.  See an opening for an assassination run, I took it since I wasn't likely to get a better shot at Kaelyssa with her power field down and in range before her 'jack came after me next turn.
Morvahna advanced to put Kaelyssa within range, then cast Eruption of Life at the elf. I boosted to hit (and good thing I did, too), then debated whether to boost the damage before doing so. It was a gambit, as it would leave Morvahna without fury. The damage did a fair amount to Kaelyssa, but the Elf was still standing, and now I was within a good charge lane for the Phoenix and Griffon. With nothing else to lose, the woldwatcher, still ablaze, advanced to close the charge lane, then targeted Kaelyssa with its Elemental Blast. Again I boosted to hit, just making the roll, before boosting the damage.
Kaelyssa went down.

Conclusion:
Something of a bitter irony for Tim, having fallen victim to the exact ploy he had meant to use against me - and not even something I had known would occur. I had thought his own models were immune to Nayl's Arcane Annihilation death throe, but evidently not according to the wording of the effect. I'll admit that between that and the poor die rolls he got, the game turned against him pretty quickly. It just wasn't his game this night. I'm pretty sure from now on I'll never see Nayl anywhere near his caster again.

On my end, I'm very happy with just about all the models I fielded, even if the Wolves of Orboros did nothing this game besides advance in ranks. I've finally seemed to get the hang of the Warpborn Skinwalker, having now learned the hard way how to use them as intended, to tarpit enemy models rather than to really destroy them. Getting to use their Terror ability was an unexpected treat, though.  The bloodtrackers are even more fun when I can run them with little fear, knowing I can usually regrow the unit, regardless of how many get shot down.
Looking back, I also realize the Swamp Gobbers probably weren't that great a choice for this game, since Retribution, like many Cygnar gun-line lists, can gleefully ignore concealment effects and go right for the covered units, anyways. But for one measly point, they didn't ruin my list, either.

This game marks the first time I actually remembered the woldwatcher's Shield Guard ability, and planned on using it from the get-go. However, I'm a bit annoyed with myself for somehow all this time having overlooked the fact that Morvahna has Sacrifical Pawn. D'oh! Next time, I plan on trying to get her into the thick of things and see if I can have her cut loose with her Harvest spell.

I think I may try running Morvahna a little more often to get a better hang of her, though I'm bound to come across an anti-upkeep list that'll make short work of my forces soon enough. Still, she makes for one nasty caster...